NFTE was so excited to see the shining faces of three of our graduates in The Startup Factor aired this morning on A&E. Zurri Alwakeel, Phylicea Ewart, Melissa Ruiz Vera, and many other successful entrepreneurs offered a personal look at their stories and honest insight into what keeps them going.

There were so many nuggets of wonderful advice in this film. Here are our top picks for entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurially minded to hold close as you pursue your dreams.

Every year, the Small Business Administration sponsors and promotes National Small Business Week. This year, it was May 4-8.

And while it’s true that small businesses are an essential part of economic growth, research shows it’s not the size of the business that drives economic growth, but the age of the business. New businesses, startups, drive most of the hiring and expansion in the U.S.

Today, in response to the national youth unemployment rate numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, NFTE CEO Amy Rosen released the following statement: U.S. Youth Unemployment Still More than Three Times National Rate Today, the BLS report on the American employment picture shows a continuing bleak picture for young people - more than one in five of whom (20.2%) are unemployed. Below is a quote from Amy Rosen, CEO of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, a 26 year old global non-profit which teaches entrepreneurship thinking and employment skills to young people.

On Thursday, July 3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the unemployment data for the month of June. Although the overall unemployment rate changed for the better, dropping to 6.1% on the back of 288,000 new jobs, youth unemployment revealed itself as a lasting problem.

As someone whose job is Development (AKA fundraising), it is a rare opportunity when I get to co-lead a student program. NFTE “cross-training” as we sometimes call it, is a great way for staff members to get out of their regular day-to-day and directly be a part of the exciting work we do with youth. I have been raising funds for BizCamps for 15 years and I’ve had the chance to participate in several over the years, but admittedly it had been a while.